The Catholic World Report: Catholicism and “Nones”: The Data on Youth and Young Adults

Catholicism and “Nones”: The Data on Youth and Young AdultsBy Fr. Thomas More Garrett, O.P.

Last year’s news was packed with reports of polling results. Debates over what the data reveal and how best to respond to what they portend saturated talk shows and opinion pieces.

Most of the chatter, of course, concerned matters presidential. Buried within all the noise about the race for the White House though, a series of surveys sounded out a different set of results with particular significance for the Catholic landscape in America. With the campaign of 2016 now in the rear view mirror, and with the 2018 synod of bishops starting to appear on the horizon, an examination of reports released in the latter half of last year by the Pew Research Center and The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), respectively, is in order. A comparison of the results of these surveys reveal some alarming consistencies that, while giving rise to concern, suggest a path forward toward fostering the faith of today’s younger generations.